Monday, November 10, 2014

Our digest of, and commentary on today's Florida political news and punditry.

"Florida isn’t purple. It’s schizophrenic"

Marc Caputo writes that "multiple factors played into Republicans’ wins over Democrats in Florida and the nation, including the lack of popularity of President Barack Obama. Some of the data are still coming in, but we can still distill about 10 takeaways:"

1. Florida isn’t purple. It’s schizophrenic.

2. Obama’s election machine without Obama is not a machine.

3. Don't bash the polling just yet.

4. TV ads are still king in Florida.

5. Libertarians need to build a party instead of a Twitter troll army.

6. Vote early or die.

7. Medical marijuana is meh for Democrats.

8. The Republican Party is a cult of policy compared to the Democrats’ cult of personality.

9. Florida Democrats’ greatest strength in a presidential year is a weakness in midterms.

10. Florida Republicans’ greatest strength in a midterm year is a weakness in presidential years.

"A proposed 1-cent sales tax increase fell short for Martin County for the second time in five days Saturday during a recount held by the county’s elections canvassing board. The proposal was defeated by 72 votes after Saturday’s recount with 30,343 opposed and 30,271 in favor, Martin County Supervisor of Elections Vicki Davis said. A total of 62,479 ballots were tallied with canvassing board members dismissing some as either under-votes or over-votes." "Recount confirms voters defeated Martin County sales tax increase."

To the delight of FlaDems, Dubya claims there's "'50-50 chance' his brother Jeb will run for president in 2016. And he has previously said that he's been urging Jeb to enter the race."

But Jeb Bush could have an uphill climb, should he choose to run. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that among registered voters, only 26 percent think he'd make a good president — which ranks him higher than some of his potential Republican rivals, but falls short of a vote of confidence [and only half the percentage of registered voters who think Clinton would make a good president].

Aside from the blah, blah, blah about a "Bush dynasty," Jebbie will be a media dream candidate because of the conceit he is some sort of intellectual policy wonk; that, however, will soon be exposed as a sham: Jeb after all "comes from a family that’s famous for its curious relationship with the English language. . . . But while his brother and father are more famous for a certain unfamiliarity with the rigors of the mother tongue, Jeb’s verbal slips tend to reveal a mean-spiritedness that seems less benign." See "When Jeb Bush speaks, people cringe."

"GOP Girl Power"

Nancy Smith: "won't try to tell you Republican women are exactly where they want to be -- or anywhere near where they should be -- but certainly they made great strides this election to push back against the Democrats' agenda, present a compelling case for middle class issues and challenge the party on the left with more GOP women on the ballot than ever before." "War on Women, My Foot! GOP Girl Power Is Emerging."

The Sun Sentinel editorial board: "As Americans watch to see how Republicans in Congress use their new power, Floridians will watch to see how Republicans in Tallahassee prepare the party for the 2016 election in the nation's largest swing state." "To win in 2016, here's what GOP should do now."

A Brevard thing

Curious:

• Republicans are 42 percent of registered voters in Brevard.

• Republicans cast 47 percent of ballots Tuesday.

• Republican Gov. Rick Scott won Brevard with more than 52 percent of the vote.

About FLA Politics

Florida's "netroots" and professional "media blogs" are digested in the two columns immediately below. The to the right summarizes hand picked articles, punditry and editorials about Florida politics. The far right column incorporates both permanent links and specialized news digests which are customized as necessary (now featuring news about Rubio's campaign, and the latest on Jeb).